What kind of snake did you go with?
Ha! That’s awesome! I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Whether playing with kids, alone, or even some random folks online, if you know and love the game of soccer (football) then it’s really easy to have a blast with FIFA.
To me, of all the sports games, it feels the most like the real sport without too much videogamey interference.
Xbox One or PS4 version?
This one.
It was four dollars more, but it’s more convenient for the input availability in our TV and receiver and better because of the number of controllers we have for the PS4.
-xtien
My career mode manager has a problem…
In the first transfer window he sold our backup keeper and in every subsequent window he’s bought at least one, if not two Goalies.
There must be a support group for people like this.
Arise.
I wanted to write an update about this, now that it’s been about a year.
My son is still totally into this game. I know I shouldn’t be surprised about this, because in the very first post on this I commented about how the psychology of games like this works (albeit I was referring to weird micro-payments for players and stuff like that). But dang, I could not be more surprised. He has never been into a series of games, so that whole “The new Zelda is coming out!” thing never happened before. This, now, is basically the only game he wants to play. Not the only thing he wants to do, mind you. He still wants to watch TV–we are watching “Seinfeld” together, weirdly enough–and prefers to go outside to play soccer–thank goodness–but when it comes to video games, it is this.
He is developing a strange Words with Friends habit, but I’m not going to complain about that.
To say deciding to purchase FIFA 17 was a hugely successful decision is a huge understatement, and I made it largely because of comments like this:
The game made our summer bearable. And did so much more.
A couple of days before school let out for summer last year, my son broke his foot playing soccer at school when he collided with one of his friends. More serious was the high-ankle sprain, which meant that he was in a cast up to his knee for the whole of summer break. He was not pleased. As I say above, he much prefers to be out and playing. Even if it’s just against his old man at the park. So as the video game fed his love for the actual game of soccer, so did it help him through the down time from playing soccer on the field.
We spent a lot of time playing FIFA 17 over the summer. He got better and better at it, and more and more interested in figuring out player stats and team rankings. He would write up lists of his favorite players and come up with teams on paper. Eventually he started drawing players and their stats as well.
In the fall he went to England and Denmark with his mother, and the highlight of his visit was visiting Old Trafford. Also visiting Goodison Park and Anfield. While in Denmark he got to hang out with a friend who lives there who taught him about career mode.
Sheesh. Talk about a game changer.
I’ve really loved watching him play career mode. It is so cool to watch him work through the process of negotiating as the manager of his team, to have him tell me, “I set the price here because I know they will pass on this player, and I want them to.” Or to go back and forth about the amount of years on a given contract. I find it to be a cool element of the game, and what I hope is that it lays the groundwork for him being able to figure out how to negotiate once he gets in the workplace, something I really never learned. He seems to grasp it automatically. I don’t know if it’ll translate, but it’s cool to see him do it. He will look up young players on his phone, try to figure out their value, and go into the negotiation phase quickly and with confidence. I have to say, I really love this element of the game.
Oh. Perhaps I buried the lede. His main request for birthday/Christmas this year was FIFA 18. Which I think speaks volumes about the game.
The other thing, and this is probably just me justifying the amount of time I let him play it this summer, but oh well…I really think the game helped his real game. He went back into the fall season with his regular team (The Fury) and he was really good. After a whole summer off. He’s a smart player. Kind of a utility player. But he seemed quicker. With a better understanding of the field and the angles. I have to say that the amount of screen play time helped with that.
The dad of one of his friends asked me, “How did he improve so much?”
I tried to explain the above, but the guy visibly turned off when I mentioned the video game. Didn’t want to hear it. Went back to his phone to check a text and then made a call. Did not re-engage. So maybe I’m wrong. Whatever. I like the idea that I’m right.
My son is back to both soccers now, and I like the balance. I like that he will play for a bit on the PS4 and then say, “Dad…we need to go to the park.”
Here he is in his most recent game, FWIW:
He’s #34. I love this picture.
Anyway. I just wanted to say all this to say, thank you all for your advice on buying this game. I was nervous about it and I think it has really paid off in a number of ways.
-xtien
This is just awesome! Thanks for posting!
Eyes are up, not watching the ball or his feet.
Kid has game.
That’s awesome! And being a Youth coach for many years with a goalkeeping son who may get some college looks, I can tell you that FIFA as a game does make kids better IMO. They learn about space, where the good runs are to be made, how to play back to go forward, and just generally appreciate the game more.
I’m really glad my comment helped push you over the edge, more happy that your son is loving the game more now because of it! Kids are awesome and you never can know what will spark even greater success for them. Always be open to new things and your son will go far. :)
When he’s heading to the MLS, let us know. :)
Sweet, football is the beautiful game.
That’s great stuff! Really glad you both enjoyed the game so much!
Thanks for sharing, that was a great read. Nice pic too!
FIFA 18 is on a pretty steep sale right now on ORANGES. Down to $19 for the base version.
I got autocorrected from digital storefront to citrus fruit, but I’m leaving it.
Business idea! If you could gamify fresh fruit consumption parents will make you a billionaire. Hell I’d up my fruit consumption if it would improve my Ultimate Team.
So the F in FUT doesn’t stand for “Fruit?”
I’ve completely misunderstood this game.
Apologies for the WALL OF TEXT that’s coming here…
In 1978 my Dad took me to my first football match. It scared the crap out of me.
It was the most people I’d ever seen in one place before and being so small I encountered them all as a forest of legs. Everyone smelled of beer, apart from the ones who smelled of piss, or both, the singing was raucous and featured a mix of words I didn’t know and ones I did know that would get me a hiding if I said them.
It was the loudest noise I’d ever heard and a first-half clash of heads left the opposing Captain to play the rest of the game covered in so much blood that I was pretty certain I was watching someone die.
It was amazing.
That was a World Cup year and although England hadn’t qualified Scotland were there, so I latched onto them for interest. They’d drawn a group with Peru, Iran and the Netherlands, so I was certain that the Scots could at least come second, because I had no idea what being a Scotland fan actually entailed.
Scotland had failed to get out of their group in the 1974 World Cup, despite drawing with Brazil and Yugoslavia, because they only beat Zaire 2-0, compared to Brazil’s 3-0 win over the Africans and Yugoslavia’s impressive 9-0 victory, leaving the Scots with an inferior goal difference.
In 1978 Scotland would contrive to make a disaster out of their “easy” group. After losing 3-1 to Peru in the opener they scraped a draw with Iran and then went on to beat the Dutch 3-2, because of course they did.
In 1982 goal difference did for Scotland again, as they lost to Brazil, drew with the Soviet Union and beat New Zealand. Scotland had scored first against Brazil with an absolute thunderbastard from fullback David Narey – it was the only international goal he scored in his career.
In ’86 Scotland were the only team not to make it out of their four-team group and in 1990 an opening-game surprise defeat to Costa Rica meant the Scots had to beat Brazil in their final group game to progress. They lost 1-0.
They weren’t in the USA for the ’94 world cup, but in ’98 they drew Brazil again and lost narrowly again, 2-1, but a draw with Norway meant they had some hope going into the final group game. Except, not only did Norway somehow beat Brazil, Scotland completely capitulated against Morocco to lose 3-0.
Inbetween those two tournaments Scotland were in England’s group for Euro ’96. At 1-0 down in the 77th minute they won a penalty, which they promptly missed. Shortly after England worked the ball downfield to make one of the best goals scored by a drunken gargoyle I’ve ever seen.
This is all a very long-winded build up to explain why I made my FIFA17 career player be a giant ginger Scottish Forward called BARRY MCGARRY, because Scotland have never, ever made it to the knockout stages of a major football tournament and I’m just the man to end that run.
Maybe.
In 2018 when the game starts Scotland haven’t qualified for the World Cup and I’m not a big enough draw to get into the squad anyway, but for the 2020 Euros I’m a big part of the team and we go into the final group fixture knowing a win will send us to the finals.
A win against England that is. At Wembley.
So when I score what turns out to be the winner with a near post header at the start of the second half, I presume I’ll never have to buy another drink in Scotland again as long as I live. (About 45 given Scottish heart disease rates.)
In the finals we draw Italy, France and Greece, which suggests we won’t be breaking our knockout-stage duck just yet.
It’s crucial that we get a win over Greece in the opening game but can only muster a goalless draw. A result we match against Italy in the second game, but only when they miss an 82nd minute penalty.
On to France in the final game, knowing we need to win and… because I hadn’t scored in either of the first two matches the Manager drops me in favour of Leigh Griffiths and we lose 2-0 to finish dead last in the group.
At least it wasn’t a soul-crushing goal-difference exit, eh!? Eh!?
On we go two more years and qualification for the World Cup in 2022. My domestic career takes me from Scotland to the Premier League and then onto La Liga and Atletico Madrid, where Diego Simeone absolutely loves my hard work and physical style, so I get to play every week even though I’m about the fourth best forward in the team.
The 2022 qualification group features Italy again, Ireland, Finland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Scotland are third in the group going into the final game, but a win over Ireland combined with a Swiss defeat in Finland means we leapfrog over the watchmakers into second place and qualify!
Into a group that contains England…
The other two teams are South Africa and Mexico – two winnable games that mean that surely now Scotland have a real chance to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time.
We haven’t all seen this movie before, right?
Do you think you can imagine peak major-tournament Scotland? No, more Scotland than that. No, still more Scotland…
Thankfully, in FIFA17 the 2022 World Cup isn’t in Qatar, so the Scottish fans won’t have to celebrate any victories with a cup of tea and a quiet cheer. Our opening game is against South Africa and gives us the opportunity to start off with a positive result to launch us out of the group into the knockout stages, but the game is cagey all through the first 45 minutes without too many chances either way.
Then, at the start of the second half…
I’m excited because it’s a nicely taken goal, it’s my first goal at a major tournament and it turns out to be the winner too.
England beat Mexico 2-0.
On matchday two we have the Mexicans in and the game is somehow even more dour than the first half against South Africa. Right on the stroke of halftime Mexico have a long range effort that Jordan Archer just about tips over the bar, but that’s it really.
The second half doesn’t improve, but then on 87 minutes Grant Hanley gets bored and does a flying tackle off about a five step run up that practically decapitates a Mexican forward and gives them a penalty. They score and hold on to win 1-0.
England beat South Africa 2-0.
Mexico are almost certain to win over South Africa, so now all Scotland have to do to progress is beat England in the final game with qualification on the line for both teams.
By this stage I have about 35 caps for Scotland and in every single one the Attacking Midfielder just behind me in the 4-4-1-1 formation has been Ryan Gauld. Not only have I never seen Ryan score, I don’t recall seeing him even get a shot on target, so when we work a good move right from the kick off against England I’m excited… then I see the cross is going to Gauld…
So, if you want something doing, BARRY MCGARRY is going to have to do it himself. Shortly after Ryan’s miss, we press England high up the field, Gauld wins the ball back and does something he’s actually good at - passes to me.
If that wasn’t enough, I do my own action replay about fifteen minutes later, when a nice turn on the edge of the box puts the ball on my left foot again, with the same result again.
What follows, is something like a 28 Days Later remake, with Scotland playing the survivors and Harry Kane as all of the zombies. He draws several saves from Jordan Archer and then in the second half when a header cannons back off the bar, Kane collects his own rebound and fires past the prone Archer, only to see that shot hit the inside of the far post, roll all the way along the goalline, hit the inside of the near post and bounce clear.
Dele Alli hits the angle of post and bar so hard the ball almost bounces to halfway and then even John Stones has a try, with a cross/shot/terrible miss-hit that bounces on top of the crossbar and out.
The referee adds five minutes of stoppage time, just to give me a heart attack, but somehow we hold on for a glorious victory over the Auld Enemy!
Which is why I’m confused when the game drops back to the main menu and I’m in my red and white Atletico kit and not the blue of Scotland.
I go and check the international standings and find out two things - First, Mexico beat South Africa 4-0. Second, the standings are sorted by goal difference and then goals scored. Which means…
Jesus Scottish Christ.
I absolutely love these posts, Mr_Bismarck.
When my kid plays career mode, he always chooses the strangest teams, in my view. I just expect him to pick Manchester United because he loves that team so, or Everton since Rooney returned. But he doesn’t. Instead he chooses teams like Sheffield Wednesday.
-Why are you doing that? Why aren’t you just playing Man U?
-Because that would be too easy. It’s more fun this way.
He likes to work his way up through the career. He likes to build his reputation and get offers from international squads and whatnot.
I got to sit in on the team selection process for one of the last careers he ran up on 2017. It was fascinating to watch him figure it out. He asked me to make a list as he went through the teams.
“Ashton Villa is good but they’re a little too good for me. Barnley is too bad. Birmingham is about right.”
He tried to teach me about transfer budget/wage at this point, but I was busy not being smart enough about maths.
He had me do a list as we went through: Birmingham City. Brentford. Bristol City. Cardiff City. Fulham. Leeds United. Norwich.
My trenchant comment at this point was that Indigo Girls had a song about Leeds. He rightly ignored that.
“Fulham might be perfect.”
He ended up going with Fulham for that career.
That is beautiful. I can’t wait to show it to him.
This too. That save is awesome. And wow. The mustache on that goalie Seaman [Beaumont].
Great posts, Mr_Bismarck.
-xtien
Thanks! They’re very long for the internet these days so I’m glad someone read them!
I play almost exclusively the career mode where you’re just a single player so I don’t have to worry about budgets or wages or any of that as the management and all the other players are AI controlled.
I do like to start off in bad teams though - BARRY MCGARRY has seen his career go Dundee - Portsmouth - Aston Villa - Newcastle - Atletico Madrid.
This past season at Atletico has been by far my favourite single season in the game so far. It’s my third full season in Spain and I’m probably ready to move on, but it was just a compelling run from start to finish, trying to keep up with the big boys at Real Madrid and Barcelona, while managing a Champions League run and playing in the Scottish national team.
There are some weaknesses with the mode - I’m 6’5"… put some crosses in you silly AI wingers! - but overall it’s a really fun experience and this single person mode is my favourite in all the sports games that feature it.
It’s probably strongest in the NBA games, (even though I don’t watch any basketball), and was weakest in Madden before EA pulled the plug on the PC version of that, but if you release a sports game with this type of mode that lets me play it like a very limited RPG I am going to buy your game.
This is really well put, Dave. My kid has really learned how to look at the field and is great at slowing down the game when he gets the ball. This is a detail @marquac picked up from my post and talked to me about personally, and he was absolutely right. My kid’s league coach tries to teach them how to handle the ball in the game when they have time and space, and I can see my kid doing that more this year. He’s also learned how to control the ball more, and how to play back, as you say.
I think a lot of this is due to playing FIFA, which helps him visualize the game without that exercise being a chore.
-xtien
Quoting myself to show what John Wile looked like during that game.
They didn’t have blood rules back then that required you to switch to a clean shirt and stay off until the bleeding stopped. So they bandaged him and sent him back on, but every time he headed the ball his bandage would get redder and redder until he finally tore it back off again.